tipsy, a.
(ˈtɪpsɪ)
Also 6–8 tipsie, 7–9 tipsey.
[app. f. tip v.2 sense 8 (or ? 4, 5): cf. tricksy: see F. Hall Mod. Eng. 272.]
Affected with liquor so as to be unable to walk or stand steadily; partly intoxicated: often euphemistic for Intoxicated, inebriated, drunk.
| 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1663) 117 About ten of the clock, whenas they were somewhat tipsie, and well crammed with victuals. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 48 The riot of the tipsie Bachanals. 1623 Middleton More Dissemblers iv. i, He that's a gipsy may be drunk or tipsy. a 1668 Davenant Play-house to Let v. i, Sure Tony and you have drunk till y'are tipsey. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Tipsy, a'most Drunk. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Tipsy, that is a little in Drink, fuddled. 1777 F. Burney Early Diary 7 Apr., She forced wine and water..down her throat, till she was almost tipsey. 1889 Stevenson Master of B. viii, I have seen them flee from him when he was tipsy, and stone him when he was drunk. |
b. transf. Characterized or accompanied by intoxication; arising from or causing tipsiness.
| 1634 Milton Comus 104 Tipsie dance, and Jollity. 1760 Fawkes tr. Anacreon, Ode xli. 24 Then let me, warm with Wine, advance, And revel in the Tipsy Dance. 1851 Thackeray Eng. Hum., Swift (1858) 32 He was not bred up in a tipsy guard-room. |
c. fig. Affected as if by intoxicating liquor; unsteady as if from drink; inclined to tip or tilt.
| 1754 Richardson Grandison VI. ix. 31 Lord G. could not keep his seat: He was tipsy poor man with his joy. 1852 H. Rogers Ess. I. vii. 339 He was..intellectually as tipsy as ever nitrous oxide could have made him. 1895 Funk's Standard Dict., Tipsy..3. Bobbing and swaying; tipping about; also, liable to tip;..as, a tipsy boat. 1905 Daily News 26 Aug. 6 They [‘To Let’ boards] lean into the street at all sorts of tipsy angles. |
d. tipsy key: a kind of watch-key invented by Bréguet: see quot.
| 1884 F. J. Britten Watch and Clockm. 36 [A] Tipsy key [is] a watch key in which the upper and lower portions are connected by means of a ratchet clutch kept in gear by a spring, so that the upper part will turn the lower part in the proper direction for winding. |
e. Comb. ˈtipsy-ˈtopsy a. (nonce-wd.) [cf. topsy-turvy], upset or in disorder as if tipsy.
| a 1845 Hood She is far fr. the Land 59 Trunks tipsy-topsy, The ship in a dropsy. |
Hence ˈtipsy v., trans. to make tipsy, tipsify.
| 1673 Shadwell Epsom Wells i, Why, I..got a little tipsy'd, as they say, and forgot it. 1691 ― Scowrers v, I was tipsied last night. 1849 James Woodman iv, A butt of it would not have tipsied a sucking lamb. |